Kurosaki Christmas
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: Christmas with shinigami is not easy. Especially when the only peace keeper is Ichigo.


I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.

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Kurosaki Christmas

Ichigo hurled the pencil sharpener, smashing it through the plasterboard wall and groaning, resting his face in his hand. Christmas was supposed to be a merry time. That was rarely the case for Ichigo Kurosaki. This year, was worse than usual. Isshin Kurosaki, in all his infinite wisdom, had had the genious idea to invite what felt like the entirety of the Soul Society. Then he had forgotten to tell Ichigo until only a few hours ago. Ichigo had rushed out and gotten a gift for each, a handful actually coming from Kisuke rather than a normal store. He had gotten back to the house and had started hastily wrapping them. When finished, he had wound up with more presents then he cared to count, an empty wallet and bank account, and only one gift he hadn't wrapped because he was hoping to give it in private.

He groaned, picking the presents up, a many as he could carry at a time and making his way downstairs, carefull not to rip off any of the tags that had been the source of the final bit of annoyance that caused the pencil sharpener to become a projectile. Finally all of the wrapped ifts were piled up under the tree. Just as he finished, the doorbell wrang. He answered the door and was instantly shoved aside as shinigami began to stream through the door, filling the living room and spilling into other rooms.

Ichigo groaned. Rangiku had brought Sake. Within seconds the eggnog was spiked and there was an unhealthy coating on every edible thing in the house. Shinigami began to eat and gorge themselves, happily partaking in the alcohol.

"Ichigo, I think your sisters should be elsewhere," Orihime stated as she took a handfull of cookies from Karin for the forth time. "I'm going to take them to my house for tonight."

"Probably for the best," Ichigo agreed just as there was a tremendous crash from the living room. "Oh now what?"

Ichigo hurried into the room as Karin and Orihime follwed and all three froze. Isshin's new TV was lying on the ground, shattered and with Kenpachi and Ikkaku beside it, looking to have been wrestling but both staring at it in annoyance.

"What did you do!?" Ichigo practically shouted, sprinting to the TV and lifting it, wires and LED lights dangling and falling out where the screen was gone. "Oh Dad's going to flip."

"ICHIGO!" Isshin's voice thundered.

Ichigo spun, Isshin's foot crashing into the side of his head and smashing him against the wall. Then, Isshin had him in a cross between an arm bar and a headlock.

"Why did you break my TV?" Isshin demanded. "Yiu were jealous weren't you?"

"Um, actually, it was-" Ikkaku began but Isshin clearly wasn't listening.

"I...didn't...break...stupid TV," Ichigo snarled, trying to break free.

"Yeah right Ichigo," Isshin said.

"But, Mr. Kurosaki, Ichigo didn't break the TV," Orihime spoke up. "He was in the kitchen with us."

"Yeah dad," Karin agreed. "Ease up. You're being stupid."

Isshin released Ichigo, who began to drag himself to the desk against the wall to use it to stand.

"Oh, sorry," Isshin muttered.

Ichigo left to the kitchen for some ice in silence. At least until he found the freezer empty of ice. He groaned, resting his head against the door as he tried to calm himself. He'd half togo to the store, but the delay ensured he'd have a goose egg.

"I'm going out for ice," Ichigo announced, putting on his jacket.

"You can have some of mine," Chad offered. "My house is closer than the store."

Ichigo agreed and he, Chad, and Orihime went to the door, opening it just as Rukia was raising her hand to knock. Ichigo blinked, eyes istantly taking her in. She was wearing a purple, formfitting dress, a matching set of low heeled shoes, and the tiniest hint of make-up, none of which he had ever seen her in before, an all of which made her incredibly beautiful.

"Well?" A cold voce behind her asked after a moment. "Are you going to invite us in or simply stare at my sister?"

 _Oh shit,_ Ichigo thought. _Byakuya._ "By all means, please, come in."

He stepped aside and Rukia past, a dark blush staining her cheeks after Byakuya had spoken. Byakuya stopped in the door and turned a cold stare to Ichigo.

"Pull a stunt like that again, and you die," Byakuya warned, no one but Ichigo hearing him speak.

Then, Byakuya wandered off and Ichigo sighed turning to the door.

"Well, we're heading out," Ichigo announced. "We'll be back in a bit."

"Where are you going?" Rukia asked.

"To get ice," Ichigo stated, gingerly putting a hand to his head, aready able to feel the lump.

"I'm coming," Rukia decided.

Ichigo instantly knew what was about to happen and was out the door with Chad and Orihime when the first, "Wait for me" rang out. Within seconds, Renji, Ikkaku, Rangiku, and Hitsugaya were tagging along. Orihime branched off after a minute, taking Karin and Yuzu back to her house. For a ways, things were fine. Then, they made the mistake of trying to cut through the park to save time.

"Oh I love this place," Rangiku gasped, shedding her Gigai and running forward twirling in the light dusting of snow on the ground as more drifted lazily down.

To be honest, it was quite a beautifl sight. But the others shedding their Gigais as well and drawing thirty hollows was not. Ichigo groaned, exitting his body, which collapsed in the snow. He drew Zangetsu and leapt at the hollows, only realizing that he was fighting alone when he was forced to use a Getsuga Tensho to wipe out more than half as they attacked from behind while he was focused on a wasp-like hollow. Finally he finished and landed beside his body, leveling a death gare at the others.

"Thanks for the help," Ichigo snarled.

"You had it handled," Rangiku stated, all of the others back in their Gigais now.

Ichigo entered his body and stood, legs instantly giving out and dropping him to his hands and knees, snow falling from his hair. He stood again, shaking with shivers and feeling stiff and weak. He had totally gorgotten that his body was essentially dead when he was gone, making it a bad idea to leave it in the snow. He began toward Chad's house again but Hitsugaya stopped him.

"Let's just head back," Hitsugaya said. "I'll just make ice with my zanpakuto."

Ichigo stiffened, then did a facepalm so hard it left a hand print on his forehead. He turned, hobbling past them on feet he couldn't feel. After roughly ten minutes of silence, Ikkaku and Renji began to talk and almost instantly argue. Ichigo wasn't een paying enough attention to know what about. But he could tell it was something stupid. Hitsugaya seemed to agree.

"Cut it out!" Hitsugaya finally snapped.

Just as he did, a hollow shrieked. Ichigo looked to the others but they were all too busy arguing with Rukia trying to break the argument up. Ichigo rolled his eyes, separating from his body again and leaving to fight the hollow. As he did, the other shinigami continued back toward Ichigo's house, only Chad staying for Ichigo. When Ichigo finally returned and found himself lying in a snowbank with only Chad around, he was less than pleased, but was unable to stand. Chad picked him up, slinging him across his shoulders and walking back to Icbigo's house. He ope ed the door and the shouting began instantly.

"Ichigo Kurosaki where the hell were you!?" Renji demanded as Chad carefully set him on his feet inside.

"Hol-" and that was as far as Ichigo got before his father's fist collided with the side of Ichigo's face.

"You had us all worried sick!" Isshin stated, tears flooding down his face as he suddenly latched onto Ichigo. "We thought you had found a new family!"

"No, that's what your father thought," Renji stated. "So where were you?"

Ichigo, who was massaging the side of his face, where he would need yet more ice, once he warmed his body back up, didn't answer. Instead, Chad did.

"You all left him behind when he went to fight more hollows while you all argued," Chad stated.

Renji was taken aback and looked ashamed, as did the others who had been there, most of all Rukia. Ichigo graoned as he sat down next to a fire Hinamori had started with Tobiume, Hitsugaya using Hyorinmaru to form a chunk of ice which chad broke up and put in a ziplock bag then wrapped in a dish towel and gave to Ichigo to use on the egg sized lump on one side of his head and his newly formed golf ball on the other alternately.

"Um, maybe we should do presents now," Isshin suggested.

"Wait, we were supposed to get presents?" Renji asked. "I just thought that huge pile was for you guys' family."

"Most belong to all of you," Ichigo stated, not at all suprised that none had brought a present, unless you counted Rangiku's sake.

The presents were all handed out, several people complaining about the fact that the tags had been labelled wrong and had one name scratched out and theirs scribbled in next to it. Ichigo remained silent on the matter, only Rukia and Renji noticing him growing agitated by the complaints.

"Why don't you start Ikkaku," Renji finally spoke up, trying to head off Ichigo's melt down.

"Alright," Ikkaku shrugged tearing it open and pulling a new bamboo sword for his Gigai to carry around. "Hey this is great!"

And with that, he promptly smashed it into the side of Ichigo's head trying to test it.

"Oops, sorry," Ikkaku apologized. "My bad."

"It's fine," Ichigo snarled, pushing himself up as a hollow shrieked. "I'll be right back, don't wait for me, I know what you all got."

And with that, he left his body, leaving the house and meeting all three hollows within seconds. After five minutes of failing to fight them successfully, Uryu arrived, killing all three in seconds. Ichigo grunted a thank you, limping back toward his house on a twisted ankle that would carry over into his body beautifully. Uryu followed, deciding to see how the others were. What they found suprised no one. Kenpacchi and Ikkaku, both having gotten a sword, were fighting outside the house, probably the only smart thing abot it, and insde, it sounded like there was another fight.

Ichigo went inside and found Renji, Yumichika, and Hitsugaya all fighting, though he wasn't sure why. After a moment of watching, Yumichika thre a kick at Hitsugaya, instead hitti g the snowglobe Ichigo had had Uryu make that had Hyorinmaru inside. The Snowglode slammed Renji's head, smashin both itself and the new set of glasses Ichigo had bought Renji from Kisuke to replace the pair he had destroyed when they had met. Renji shouted in rage, grabbing the closest thing availible, the blueray player Ichigo had gotten earlier that day, and hurled it at Yumichika. His aim was off and it instead smashed on contact with Yumichika's full-length mirror, which also shattered, showering Ichigo's body with glass just as he returned to it.

"What the fuck!?" Ichigo demanded, carefully standing and brushing mirror shards off himself, splitting one finger open in the process.

"Oh...uh...oops," Renji shrugged.

Yumichika was fuming but everyone in the house settled down as Ichigo went to the upstairs bathroom to bandage his finger and wrap his ankle to keep it from hurting as bad. When he got back downstairs, things had settled down a bit, and Renji and Yumichika were cleaning up everything they had broken. Ichigo hobbled over to the couch, sitting down and glaring at the fire which was dying down, leaving him still shivering. Rukia sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Rukia asked. "I haven't seen you this upset for a long time."

"I'm fine," Ichigo sighed looking down at his friend, meaning to smile in reassurance.

Big mistake.

"ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" Byakuya's voce thundered.

"It's not-"

Too late. Ichigo found himself outside, clothes burned and ruined but body miraculously undamaged thanks to his naturally high spiritual pressure.

"Brother stop!" Rukia shouted. "He didn't do anything. We were just talking!"

Ichigo pushed himself up, hobbling away from the broken window and then climbing up to the roof using a ladder in the back yard. He had had enough of the others for a while. After a few minutes, he went back inside, once again shivering, and found the others all sitting around, quietly sipping at hot chocolate.

"Hey Ichigo," Isshin greeted. You want some hot chocolate?"

"Actually, I kinda used the last of it," Renji said apologetically. "Want mine?"

"I'm fine," Ichigo grunted sitting in front of the fire place, now having nothing but hot coals inside it.

"Ichigo, we wanted to apologize for the way we've acted tonight," Rukia stated. "So we wanted to play a little game as a way to make it up to you."

Ichigo sighed and looked back at them as Isshin set a chair in the center of the room and pulled out a blindfold.

"You get four hints about who it is and have to guess the name," Renji grinned. "Guess correctly and you get to choose your reward. Guess wrong, and we choose for you."

Ichigo knew he would regret this somehow but nodded and sat in the chair, Isshin blindfolding him then tying him tothe chair. Ichigo swallowed hard.

"First hint," Renji spoke up. "They're extremely moody."

"Second hinY," Ikkaku spoke. "They have dark hair."

"Third hint," Yumichika said. "Their last name starts with a K."

"Forth hint," Isshin said. "They're small."

"Rukia," Ichigo guessed.

"I'm not moody!" Rukia stated kicking him in the side of the head and tipping him over. "Oops. Sorry."

Someone picked him back up, Ichigo gritting his teeth against the pain.

"Wrong guess," Renji stated. "Now here's yohr reward."

And then, Ichigo sucked in a mouthfull of painful air as ice and water crashed into the back of his neck, covering him. His half-melted ice pack. He had forgotten about it. Everyone began to laugh but stopped when Ichigo's spiritual pressure began to tremble. The blindefold tore free, flying away and allowing everyone to see the malice in Ichigo's eyes that could send Aizen running. He stood, his spirittual pressure obliterating the ropes and sending the chair rocketting across the house inti the kitchen as a crumpled ball of metal.

"What's wrong with you?" Isshin demanded, moving to openhand smack the back of Ichigo's head for ruining a chair, a pleasant change from a punch or kick but not atthe moment.

Ichigo spun, smacking the arm aside befor it could make contact then picking Isshin up by the throat.

"That's it," Ichigo snarled, the room suddenly deathly quiet. "I've had more than enough. All goddamn day I've done nothing but break my back trying to impress everyone. I spent every cent I had on gifts for people that weren't originally even supposed to be here, I nearly froze to death because you were all too selfish to fight the hollows with me, even though you're all safe from the cold, I've been beaten about the head for shit I didn't do, and I've put up with it all so that hopefully you all could have a good night. Now, I really don't give a fuck. My own sisters were driven out of the house by you and Rangiku's obsession with alcohol, on fucking _Christmas Eve_ , and not a single one of you thanked me for your gifts, a few of which you broke to boot. I've had enough. The party's over. Get out!"

He had released Isshin somewhere in the beginning of his rant and now he turned and stormed up the stairs, leaving a trail of ice water all the way to his room. The others all sat in a stunned silece for a moment before Rukia hurried after Ichigo. As she reached the top of the stairs, she found a smashed black velvet bock roughly four inches long, one made for expensive necklaces, if memory served. The box looked to have been stomped on then kicked out of Ichigo's room and there was a piece of paper sticking out where the box had broken open. She pulled the paper out, catching a glimpse of silver as she did.

The paper was a note that read, "I'd have given you this when I passed out the others' gifts but I wanted to give it to you in private. You've always been there for me, so I want to pay that back. Unfortunately, this is the best I could do. In comparison it might as well be trash. Still, thanks for everything you've done for me. Love, Ichigo."

Rukia stared at the note for several more minutes before dropping it and slowly opening the box, hands moving as slowly as if she were afraid it might ruin the gift if she weren't careful. The top half fell off, revealing a silver weave necklace with dozens of diamond snowflakes along it. She lifted it out of the box, the box falling away as the necklace sparkled in the light. She smiled, tears leaping to her eyes as she put the necklace on, one hand resting on it as she stared at it in awe in the mirror nearby.

She turned to Ichigo's door, pushing it open and seeing him sitting on the bed, staring out at the stars. She knelt on the bed beside him, wrapping her arms around him. He didn't bother to move.

"I'm sorry," Rukia whispered, voice shaky. "I never considered that maybe you weren't enjoying the party as much as us. I'm so sorry for the way we acted."

Ichigo simply nodded, expression never changing and eyes never leaving the sky. Rukia tucked her face into the side of his neck, squeezing tighter.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Rukia whispered. "I'm sorry. I love my present, I know you wanted to give it to me in person, but still."

Ichigo looked down at her, seeing the necklace resting around her neck, glittering in the moonlight the wi dow let in, making Rukia all the more beautiful. He smiled, in spite of himself.

"You loom beautiful," Ichigo smiled, resting his cheek on top of her head as she lea ed on his shoulded.

It occured to Rukia that he sounded tired. Dealing with them all and trying to keep in control had drained him. The cold certainly hadn't helped and his outburst downstairs seemed to have used up the last of his strength. He was ready to pass out.

"I know things didn't go quite like you hoped tonight," Rukia sighed. "But, if you don't mind, and if it's not too late, I have a gift for you."

Ichigo lifted his head, looking down at her and seeing her blushing slightly. Then, she reached up and kissed him. He kissed her back, one hand moving to the side of herbface as bohlth of her arms snaked around his neck. After a moment, she pulled back, resting her head against his chest. Ichigo wrapped his arms around her, smiling and gently running his finger through her hair. After a moment, he lay down with her on top of him. She smiled and kissed him again for a moment before pulling away and resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled, closing his eyes and drifting off, Rukia following soon after.

Maybe christmas wasn't all bad after all.

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